


texas is a land-locked state

by adeleblaircassiedanser



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Casual Sex, Drunken Confessions, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friendship, Gen, Immaturity, Injury Recovery, Internalized Biphobia, M/M, Pregnancy Scares, Real Life Player Drama, Rookies, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, bad life choices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-21 20:40:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13151628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeleblaircassiedanser/pseuds/adeleblaircassiedanser
Summary: First of all, Tyler has never gotten anyone pregnant. He’s, like, 65% sure.---(This is really just a story about Tyler, for whatever that's worth.)





	texas is a land-locked state

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sparcck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparcck/gifts).



> -Title from "Texas Reznikoff" by Mitski, which I have been waiting about a year to use on a fic for this pairing. Listen to that song and "Delicate" by Taylor Swift. (Or don't, it's up to you.)  
> -Obvious news is obvious, but this story is based on real people. But actually, it's based on like ~fake versions of real people that I made up in my head. No offense intended and obviously if your name is in this, don't read it lol.  
> -Many thanks to the loads of patient people who held my hand through an unnecessarily bratty and dramatic writing process (usernames are for ao3/tumblr): Everybody in the writing channel of the discord, for introducing me to the invaluable concept of the group sprint; @misterandry for early workshopping and general cheerleading, as well as tyler characterization notes; @kingsoftheimpossible for reading and encouraging me enough not to delete it, @deepbutdazzlingdarkness for doing the same and then also helping me tag so as not to traumatize anybody, hopefully; @Snickfic for helpful notes on (fictional) injuries, @Irrealis for formatting support which really made the fic for me (may not be as exciting to anyone else, but it looks amazing imo), and @blueorangecrush for a really great beta on top of running the whole exchange. Thank y'all so much.  
> -That being said, all remaining weirdness is mine. I have a feeling this story may be um. Controversial. The relevant author's disclaimers and such are in the end notes, as they may be spoilery. Proceed at your own risk, and happy holidays! 
> 
> p.s. my dear recipient, just know that I did really try lol. I hope you enjoy what became of your prompt.

First of all, Tyler has never gotten anyone pregnant. He’s, like, 65% sure. He’d asked his agent in an indirect “hypothetically if my friend had done this how bad would it be” kind of way and she had said nothing mattered unless there was a positive paternity test, which couldn’t happen until after the baby was born. If there even was a baby, which there probably wasn’t. Basically, Tyler’s not worried about it. It’s just another year, just another season. 

-

It probably doesn’t count as problem-solving, exactly. In the morning, Tyler blocks Zoe on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and even a couple places he’s not sure she even follows him. Sure, he can’t stop her from saying what she wants, but she has basically no credibility, because she’s probably lying. Out of sight, out of mind, or something. Tyler doesn’t tell anyone. 

Who would he even tell? Brownie would give him shit from here to eternity and then do something horrifying like try to remotely organize an abortion appointment. Either that or Tyler would wake up or get home from a roadie to find Brownie had moved his baby mama and kid into his house as some kind of twisted “surprise”. 

He could try to tell his mom, but she would _definitely_ assume this was another one of Cabbie’s pranks. If he did manage to convince her it was legit, that he’s somehow managed to knock up a puck bunny whose last name he’s not even sure of, that there must have been a hole in the condom or something, that he’s never been further from being in love and settled, she would cry into the offseason and beyond. This is a colossal fuck-up, even by Tyler’s standards. This is, like, draft-year stuff. 

So family’s out, which just leaves team. If whatever test and paperwork come through, to prove this is actually his problem, he will at some point have to tell his team and everybody. 

Jamie first, obviously. 

-

The thing is, back in those early couple seasons after getting to Dallas, Tyler had definitely felt kind of a vibe, an affinity for Jamie Benn that was obvious on the ice but existed outside the rink too. Obviously Jamie wasn’t the first teammate Tyler had thought “I’m down if you are” about. A couple of times (mostly in juniors) he’d even followed through on that instinct. The Jamie thing is a little different- more intense, maybe? Living out of each other’s pockets in the early days probably didn’t help. While Tyler periodically gives in to the temptation to Google himself, he hopes Jamie doesn’t share the habit, because Tyler’s baby face was giving everything away for free back then- his whole body angled towards Jamie like a plant towards the light, his expression totally open and needy- anyway. That’s years ago, now. 

Tyler got more settled in Dallas and his fixation died down some and Jamie is straight and has a girlfriend a lot of the time, and things got comfortable. Like, Tyler doesn’t need Jamie’s attention 100% of the time, partially because he knows he could pretty much get it whenever he wanted. Tyler’s straight too, mostly. Hence the pregnancy scare. 

\--- 

This is where things get weird in Tyler’s head, because on the one hand Jamie is his captain and the whole thing these last couple years has been about Tyler growing into a “leadership position” or whatever and, well, this isn’t exactly banner, example-grade decision making. So maybe it’ll be Jamie’s _Do Better_ face, the same disappointment he shows when one of them takes a stupid penalty when they’re already behind in the third. 

Then again, is he really going to give up this once-in-a-lifetime chirping opportunity? God knows Tyler would be milking it, if the tables were turned. Grown-up with a C and a serious girlfriend or not, Jamie is still his best (human) friend in Dallas. He’s also a younger sibling to the bone. Tyler’s called himself a dumbass in the mirror multiple times per day since he found out, but it’s one of those things that’s not satisfying when you have to do it for yourself. 

Something Tyler isn’t thinking about is the way Jamie is with kids and babies - how patient he is with them, how his favorite PR spots are the ones where teammates’ kids or children’s hospital patients are involved. Jamie probably really wants kids of his own, someday, with Katie. 

Tyler also doesn’t think about the alternate universe where he, Tyler, is well-paid to do his dream job, in his mid-twenties, and this kind of news isn’t an utter crisis. In some kind of bizarro world where Tyler is married or at least engaged to some chick, where he didn’t see the picture of the pregnancy test in his DMs and immediately delete it, but instead heard the good news in person and, like, smiled. Bizarro Tyler probably asks Bizzaro Jamie and Bizzaro Katie to be godparents. 

Over here in the real world, the responsibility of owning three dogs seems to have overcome him, since he can’t even stop Cash from gaining weight like a gymnast with a broken leg. Babies are way needier and more fragile than dogs. And if he’s going to pick one person to collaborate with on this crazy high-stakes breeding project, it sure wouldn’t be some girl in BC that he added on social because she had nice tits, or something. Somehow he doubts their partnership will stand the test of time and seem worthwhile, say, eighteen years later. 

In eighteen years, either Tyler will have gone full Jagr, or he’ll be retired. It’s hard to picture what he wants his life to be like then- is he still in Texas, or back in Ontario? He’ll have to have all new dogs, by then. What about Jamie and Katie, and their kids? They’re back in Vancouver Island or something, probably, with Jordie and Jamie’s extended family and Tyson Barrie. Maybe Tyler exchanges futuristic Christmas cards with them once a year. 

\----

If Tyler starts having noticeably more sex, that’s maybe not a coincidence. He’s too paranoid to fish through his likes and DMs for fresh meat, wary of picking up new girls even in bars and stuff. The limited notoriety of a professional hockey player in the American South feels like a liability more than an advantage for the first time. It’s been years- like, since pre-Cup win, maybe even pre- draft, fucking years- since Tyler’s even half thought about actually pulling guys raw. It’s never come close to being worth the risk, and it definitely isn’t now. Sometimes, with another player, a friend or something, a one-off has been fun- no explanations, mutually assured destruction, etc. None of those guys are local, anyway, which is a clutch strategic choice Past Tyler made. He’d always figured there was no need to make it easier to give into stupid, unnecessary temptation. It's always been one of those things he would get the urge to do periodically, one of a list of things he knew were bad for him, doing blow and having sex with single guys or married women, missing team breakfasts... He’s really mostly grown out of these bad habits. So now, to seek out some stranger for a mediocre hookup when what he’s really fixated on is some imagined love connection with his fucking captain? No. 

It’s actually funny, in an Alanis Morissette way- what better method to prove your hetero bona fides than an out-of-wedlock lovechild? So go figure that ever since the initial Snapchat freakout, Zoe coming at him all thin blue lines and emojis and righteous fury, things have been getting weird. Tyler’s been feeling way less straight lately, and it really seems like that might just be the stress. Is that a thing? Stress-induced gayness? It might be. Google doesn’t seem to know and Tyler isn’t about to ask a trainer or anything, so. 

Since he obviously can’t actually do anything with guys, he does start digging into different subheaders on his favorite porn sites. Tyler’s actually never been that interested in porn, not since he figured out as a teenager how to talk girls into sending him pictures and stuff directly, but for this he’ll obviously have to settle for the commercial substitute. The thing about porn is it’s depressing, though, unless you’re right in the five minutes or so before you come; otherwise it’s too obvious how fake everything is, and none of the guys look right. The ones who have the right hair or eyes to remind him of Jamie, or who are similarly refrigerator-sized, all open their mouths and say some stupid macho shit in super deep American voices. Tyler mutes the last video until he can finish and then closes out of the site and wipes his hands off in disgust. It feels dirty, somehow. 

Jamie is hot, obviously, but that’s sort of not what Tyler even likes about him. What’s great about Jamie is how bright and sweet and simple he is. You can count on him. Like the dogs, sort of. Only, not actually like the dogs, because Tyler is not a furry. Ew. 

\---

The thing about Tyler’s quarter-life-possible-fatherhood-and-sexuality-crisis is, it’s wicked inconvenient. This year’s team party, at Kari’s huge place, has forgone the usual “ugly Christmas sweater” type theme, so instead everyone is just dressed nicely. Not game day suits or anything, but nice stuff. It’s all grown-ups and cocktails, too, and Tyler wonders offhandedly whether the kids are corralled away somewhere or if there were actually enough babysitters to go around and they’re all at home. 

Jamie looks nice. Suddenly, in the past month or so, certain things are becoming really noticeable again, where for the past couple years they’d faded into background information. Jamie dresses way better now than he had back when Tyler was 21 and really out-of-control crazy about him. The clothes are probably thanks to his beautiful, grown-up, serious girlfriend, but it’s more than that. He’s more self-assured, a really good captain. Tyler’s sort of less of a fuck-up than he was then, too, so their dynamic is different.

"Seggy," Jamie says out of the blue. "What do you want for Christmas?" 

They don't usually buy each other Christmas presents- not regular, “wrap them up and give them ahead of time” “thoughtful and sweet” type presents, anyway. Jamie’s pretty obviously joking. But Tyler's making eye contact and totally blanking. The only thing he can think of is that dumbass Mariah Carey song. Instead of answering he pulls the song up on his phone and plays it. 

"Obviously you're all I want for Christmas, Jameson, baby," he says, laying it on as thick as possible to cover up the bottom layer of exactly the same ridiculous feeling, but for real. He backs up to the side door and opens it, needing to get out of the house, which is suddenly stuffy and close. Nobody is actually paying any attention to them, probably, pulling the same Tyler and Jamie antics as they do every year, but Tyler feels exposed in the warmly lit kitchen area. 

It’s warm out- eventually nineteen degrees is going to start feeling like Christmas weather, but it’s been almost five years and it hasn’t happened yet. 

“You’re drunk,” Jamie says, with the too-serious heavy brow and slow speech that says he’s on his way there, too. 

“Okay,” Tyler says. “Are we just listing things that are obvious now? Your eyes are brown.”

Jamie’s cheeks get red so easily; it’s what makes chirping him off-ice so much fun, with no visor for him to hide behind. 

“So are yours?” Jamie stutters. “I mean, most people have, you know. Brown eyes. It’s pretty common.” 

Tyler isn’t sure exactly why he’s laughing. In a way, Jamie is doing him a solid by being drunk and oblivious, saving Tyler the trouble of having to no-homo his way out of this in the morning. Tyler tries to focus on this stroke of luck and not push it by, say, pointing out that Jamie’s eyes are the furthest thing from common, huge and shining and kind. Right now, it seems important for Jamie to know these things- he shouldn’t just be walking around thinking he’s ordinary looking- but enough of Tyler’s higher brain function has survived to stop him from blurting it out and creating yet more problems for his future self.

“I mean, you knew, right? Back when- before Katie. I was always pretty sure you knew.” Tyler has climbed up now and is walking along this concrete wall thing, a ledge in front of some kind of shrubbery that lines the side yard. He can see the back of Katie’s blonde head through the door opening onto the deck- she’s bent talking to a couple kids he can’t recognize from here, fitting right in to the team family dynamic like she’s been here all along. Tyler likes Katie. 

It’s not that narrow of a ledge, but Tyler’s sort of listing to one side and he’s _just_ this side of drunk where he knows he’s not going to fall off. He doesn’t know what stupid thing he would be doing with his hands if he wasn’t sticking them out to the sides for balance, but it seems good to take the option off the table.

“Segs, you’re being really weird. You should probably sit down. If you get injured doing that you’re gonna wanna kill yourself.”

“If I kill myself, will you take care of my dogs? You would, right?” Tyler grins and looks right at Jamie, who clears his throat. “You totally would.” 

“I dunno, buddy. Sure. Sort of wish you would’ve stopped with two, if you were just going to pawn them off on me.”

“You’re like their godfather. Dogfather. You’d miss me, though.”

“Nah,” Jamie says. “You’re okay, though, right?”

“All good, Chubbs. What about like, a real Godfather?”

“Like for the mafia? The BC mob?”

“No, dum-dum. Like for a real baby.”

Jamie laughs. “Come on, who’s going to give you a baby? Bet you anything I have a baby before you do. Bet you we win the Cup before you have a baby.” 

They both pause, struck, and find wood to knock on before continuing. 

“So you know I had, like, a massive thing for you when I first came to Dallas.”

“No, you didn’t,” Jamie says. “Fuck off.”

“Ask Jordie,” Tyler says. “He figured it out pretty quick. You never noticed how I followed you everywhere? Made you drive me to the airport in your shitty truck? I was super obviously into you.”

“What does that even mean, though,” Jamie says weakly. Tyler’s been at this long enough to tell when he’s making Jamie uncomfortable- it’s not particularly hard to do. 

“I dunno,” Tyler says. “It’s not that complicated. We were- We’re best friends. We used to practically live together. I wanted to also have sex with you. You know, sexually.” 

“What,” Jamie said again, more quietly this time. 

“Yeah, I mean obviously not anymore, once the whole Katie thing happened, because she’s great- super hot-”

“Ty,” Jamie says. 

“Okay, so you remember when we would be out picking up- after games and shit. And like, I would have a girl in my lap or something, someone cute, and you would be trying not to watch me make out with her or, like, finger her under the table?” 

“No,” Jamie says, but he goes bright red. 

“Yeah, you do. I can think of three times it happened off the top of my head. Anyway, you’re not in trouble. The point is, I liked you watching. The girls did, usually, too. They were always asking about my hot friend, the quiet one, you know what I mean? Which, I figured maybe it would have been weird. Or you would have thought it was weird, sharing.”

Jamie blinks at him. “Sharing… girls.” 

“Yeah. But I mean, obviously Katie is the real thing, so that’s different. I wouldn’t have wanted you to think I was trying to like, put the moves on your girl. You know I wouldn’t. Totally uncool.”

“But, um,” Jamie clears his throat. “You’re saying it would have been cool with you, before I was with Katie, to have sex with a girl in front of me.”

“Yeah, if you just wanted to watch,” Tyler says, and eyes the empty bottom of his beer bottle sadly. “If you wanted to tag in, that would be fine too. Why are you acting like a nun from the Sound of Goddamn Music about this? You know what a threesome is. It’s cool if you’re not into it, but don’t play dumb.”

“...Sorry,” Jamie says, in a tone which is less than apologetic. It’s more of a ‘let’s not rile up the crazy person’ sort of tone.

“Jesus fuck, Jamie. Why are you making such a big deal of this? This is all old news.”

“Oh, my bad, Segs. Sorry if I’m overreacting-” 

“Shhh, stop yelling,” Tyler says, reaching out to cover Jamie’s mouth. “Just listen. Listen to the new news. This is why I actually needed to talk to you.”

“The new news,” Jamie repeats in a more relaxed voice. 

“Yeah. So like, the new news is, possibly I am actually having a kid. Isn’t that hilarious?” 

Jamie’s face goes blank. “Are you kidding?”

“Hmm. No?” 

“Haven’t you ever heard of condoms, bud? They’re pretty good.” 

“Fuck you, Chubbs,” Tyler says. “Obviously I use condoms. It’s probably not even mine, okay, I only hooked up with the girl like twice last summer.” 

The thing is with Jamie, Tyler is coming at him with a lot of information right now, all at once. Secret best friend crush, ill-advised love child on the way, etc, etc. People who don’t know Jamie well, they can underestimate him. To look at him, you might think that Jamie was dumb, but he’s really not. What it is with Jamie- when he doesn’t get something, he’ll sort of go quiet until he can figure it out. If Tyler’s not making sense, Jamie’s not going to argue, he’s just going to wait until Tyler takes it back or explains or something. He’ll get really quiet while he waits. 

“Anyway,” Tyler says, “It doesn’t matter. Let’s take shots. You wanna take shots?”

Neither of them brings any of it up again for a good long while. 

\---

After his less-than impressive performance over Christmas, Tyler decides to do a proper New Year’s resolution: namely, Take Some Responsibility. It turns out the maximum amount of money you can Venmo to anyone, even the mother of your child, is $2,999.99. Tyler just labels the transaction with the baby head emoji and hopes nobody’s paying too much attention. 

\---

2018 starts out okay, considering. They keep sliding in and out of the wild card spot, which sucks, but it’s not that they’re playing badly, at least. Back in the day, Tyler used to have anxiety spirals about what would happen if Jamie ever found out about him, that he would be weirded out or freak or something. That hasn’t happened, which is nice. Back when the potential drama and angst of it all had seemed so vast, within the privacy of his own head Tyler had thought he might actually be, like, _in love_ with Jamie. What he’s realizing is- well, One Tree Hill got taken down off Netflix at some point last year. Grey’s Anatomy is definitely not as good, but it scratches a similar itch, and after watching a couple seasons Tyler knows what’s up. It doesn’t matter whether he loves Jamie in a stupid, Hallmark store way. What matters is that Jamie is Tyler’s person, Grey’s Anatomy style. He’s not sure which one of them is Yang and which is Meredith, but the basic point stands. He’s reasonably sure he’s Jamie’s person too. 

What that means is, neither of them bring up a certain drunk conversation, and everything's still fine and comfortable. They fuck around at practice, chirp each other in interviews, and talk literally every day, just the same as they always have. Tyler genuinely doesn’t begrudge Katie anything, and begins to think that it might be fine if he dies without having made out with Jamie Benn. Sex isn’t everything. 

\---

Tyler’s not like, a changed man, though. Sex is still _important_. 

The thing about being friends with rookies is they’re stupidly easy to please. Mitchell Stephens can cook - he did all the cooking at Tyler’s place in Ontario during camp, which was super convenient. He’s chill for a young guy, too, knows how to have fun. They didn’t actually fuck at BioSteel, but they definitely _could’ve._ They picked up girls together, and since Mitchell was crashing at his place, Tyler maybe did get to know what he sounded like when he was enjoying himself. It was hot. They made out once or twice, on nights out. There’s no reason _not_ to call after he sees the Instagram story with him looking all sad and injured and stuff. 

“Hello? Tyler?” Mitchell sounds confused as hell, which is fair. They haven’t really talked since last summer, and the only person Tyler actually calls regularly is his mom. 

“Dude, why do you sound like you almost just called me Mr. Seguin? Calm down. We’re bros, remember?”

“Okay,” Mitchell says dubiously. 

“Anyway, I saw your story on Instagram and I figured I’d like, check and see how you were.”

“You,” Mitchell says, and then there’s sort of a long pause. “I’m… fine?”

“Okay, great. So hear me out. Couple things. You’re on IR for the rest of the season- your hand is for real broken, right?”

“I mean, maybe? Probably? The trainer said seven or eight weeks, and we’re pretty much out of the playoffs already, so-”

“Okay, so you’re free for the rest of the season. It’s probably snowing in Syracuse right now, am I right?”

“Just flurries.”

“Well, I’m literally sitting out by my pool with my dogs and it’s like 24 degrees and sunny. You need to start getting your base tan together for when you’re in Tampa next season, dude.”

“It’s only March.” 

“Listen. I’m fucking bored. What better do you have to do? Come hang out with me. I’ll fly you down. First class.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, that’s what makes me such a cool guy. Just come down and cook for me and stuff and then we can roll into Biosteel camp together. Watch a couple NHL games, you might learn something.” 

“I can’t really cook, though, because my hand is broken? So if that’s a dealbreaker you might want to just, like, hire someone?”

“Nah, man, it’s fine, you can just tell me what to do or whatever. Just come through, I’ll buy the ticket right now.”

“Don’t you have, like, friends? Who live in Dallas? Teammates and stuff?” 

“They all got old and boring suddenly. I need someone who can keep up with me.” 

“Hmm,” Mitchell says, not sounding convinced. 

“Look, tell me if I’m way off base, but if you can’t use your hand for cooking, I’m assuming there’s something else I can probably help you with. Or do you have a girlfriend up there? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

“Um, no,” comes the hesitant reply. “No girlfriend.” 

“Okay, so come through. I’ll send you the flight info later. Get pumped, dude, come on.”

\---

Tyler does get a couple weird looks when he brings the kid to the Philly game, but he plays it off easily - “He’s my rookie, that’s all. He’s just here to dogsit for a couple weeks while he’s on IR, be nice.” 

Tyler doesn’t usually think of himself as a possessive guy, but he likes something about that label- ‘my rookie’. They’re not anything, not really, but it’s nice to have someone around. No pressure, they make out a lot on various surfaces and walk the dogs. Mitchell smokes kind of a lot of weed, more than is feasible for an actual NHL player, but Tyler will shotgun a hit or two here and there. 

Tyler gets back from the Minnesota game to find a real fancy envelope- odd, because he mostly gets junk mail and has fan mail filtered through his agent. He opens it to find the letterhead of a Family Attorney in Victoria, BC. As he skims the letter, a tentative smile spreads over his face. Also enclosed is a check for the full $2,999 dollars, which is unnecessary. Tyler pulls out his phone and unblocks the number for the first time in months, then dials. 

“Hi Zoe,” he says when she picks up. 

“Tyler Seguin,” she replies dryly. 

“So you had the kid? And it’s not-”

“I had a baby, yes, and it is not your hellspawn, to the relief of everyone involved.”

“Girl or boy?”

“Boy, not that it’s your business. Listen, everything I needed to say was in the letter, so I’m not sure why you’re calling.”

“I was just gonna say- you can just keep the money, honestly. I’ll rip up the check, I don’t need it.”

“I don’t need your money, either. This was literally never about that, you moron.”

“Whoa, calm down, I’m just saying, take it as a gift or whatever. Sorry for blocking you on all of social media. I’m trying to be less of a dick.”

Tyler hears her take a deep breath. “I’m not saying this to be nasty, I’m really not, but you should go and get a vasectomy.”

“What?”

“I mean, do you want kids?” 

“I dunno? Maybe? Like, later…” Tyler shrugs, feeling defensive all of a sudden. 

“Well, I’m pretty sure you can get it so it’s reversible, so. Just go do it in the offseason. One less problem for you to worry about.”

“Maybe,” Tyler says. “Listen, good luck with your kid. Let me know if he needs mite hockey gear or whatever in a couple years. Without my genes he’s going to need all the help he can get.” 

“Okay, Seguin. Goodbye. Good luck with everything.” 

Tyler hangs up the phone and whoops. Mitchell leans his head over the upstairs railing. “What’s up?”

“I’m not having a baby,” Tyler says, grinning. “This is sick. Listen, this is probably a weird, tacky reason to have a house party, right?”

“Little bit, yeah,” Mitchell says, smirking. 

“What if I say it’s a locker cleanout party? Next week, when we get back from LA.” There are not many pluses to missing the playoffs for the second year running, but this might be one of them.

“I mean, it’s your house. I still can’t cook, so-”

“No, yeah, that’s why God invented catering. Stevie, I’m nobody’s father. Isn’t that the greatest thing you’ve ever heard?” 

\---

Jamie  
  
heyyyy when are you guys coming??  
  
In a bit. Remind me again why we’re having a party to celebrate not making the playoffs?  
  
can u keep a secret? It’s my party  
  
I think I’m better at keeping secrets then u r.  
  
s not a hockey party it’s a reverse baby shower. I’m not having a kid, chubbs!!! No kid. Shoutout to condoms, right?  
  
so anyway forget about all the stupid shit i said when i was drunk at the last house party. come over and i’m sure by the time you guys get here i’ll be lit enough to say some brand new stupid shit, k?   
  


Jamie keeps typing and then stopping, the little bubbles appearing and disappearing three or four times. Tyler locks the phone and turns it over, then reaches in the fridge for a new drink. He'll talk to Jamie when he gets here. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for being with me to the end!!! This was probably the hardest time I've had with a fic that actually ended up finished and published. Woof.  
> Hopefully from the tags it wasn't a total stunner that Tyler and Jamie didn't get married at the end or whatever, the prompt specified that Tyler not end up alone and I promise you he is neither alone nor lonely. I had to be true to where the story took me, basically.  
> Zoe is a real person and I'm low key obsessed with her and totally on her side in all this drama, which you can look into on your own time. Just know the whole baby mama conceit in this is not my invention.  
> Mitchell Stephens is also a real person and a baby hockey, who really crashed with Tyler at Biosteel. Look at him with Dylan Strome: www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=ePe5216CYJY


End file.
